There's a fight brewing in translation-ville. In one corner, Google, which has done a great job of beating many established players with its fairly useful Web-based translation tools ( apps, too ). In the other corner, Microsoft, which feels that the market of people needing apps that can translate one language to another is far from saturated just yet. The solution? Microsoft has officially released its new Microsoft Translator app for iOS and Android. The app works with smartphones, tablets,  and  Android Wear smartwatches—as well as the Apple Watch. It's pretty easy to use, too. Pull up the app on the device of your choosing and either type or talk the word or phrase that you need a translation for. Wait a moment, and boom. Instant translation. "Wearables are a fascinating place to understand user experiences for translation. No other type of device allows people to interact with so little physical intrusion from the device itself— PC's, tablets, and even phones can...

Things got crazy towards the end of Steve Ballmer’s time as Microsoft CEO. One of his dumbest moves was buying Nokia. Some say the decision cost him his job. That wasn’t all. Last month Microsoft wrote down US$7.6 billion it spent buying Nokia. Until the acquisition, Google, Facebook, Amazon and, most of all, Apple dominated technology news reports and discussion. Microsoft relevant They still do. Yet Microsoft is relevant again. In a way the Nokia episode helped the company get back on track, in part by being the catalyst for a much-needed change of leadership. It also helped the company’s top brass focus on where the business is and where it can go. From the sidelines Ballmer saw Apple win revenue, margin and respect while Microsoft appeared to drift towards irrelevance [1] . His last roll of the dice was an ill-judged attempt to remake Microsoft in Apple’s image. Hence the talk of “software and devices”. In itself that was not a stupid strategy. But it ignored Microsoft’s strengths ...

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class has been spied carrying a prototype LIDAR system. Lately, there have been talks that the three giants in the luxury car market, namely Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, were racing to acquire the HERE digital mapping technology of Nokia. The system is seen by the luxury automakers as a crucial element in their development of self driving cars. According to a report from Motor Authority, the premium car makers recently did the unthinkable. Instead of competing against each other in the acquisition of the tech, the three decided to pool up their resources, totaling 2.8 billion euros or $3.1 billion, in order to hold an equal share with HERE. The deal is expected to be completed in the early part of 2016. The unprecedented cooperation of the three just to get a hold of the system just shows how Nokia really nailed it big-time this time. The source noted that HERE will remain under independent management though. It will also be open to any interested customer. Howe...

NVIDIA’s promise to cater console-quality game streaming to the masses is enticing, but it is taking the company quite a bit of time to deliver. The NVIDIA GRID service was  announced in the beginning of 2013 , but has been under beta since then, only available to those who decide to buy into the platform and grabbing a Shield device. These users have been enjoying GRID streaming a couple years for free, which is a nice treat… one that is not ending soon. While we have been expecting a release, since  May  and July, those months have come and gone with no good news. Now NVIDIA has updated its site to let us know Shield users can continue using the GRID streaming service free of charge until September 2015. That is really a nicer way to say the launch has been delayed significantly (even if it may make some of you happy). When we finally see GRID officially being released, there will be a subscription-based model put into action (much like Netflix, Hulu, etc.), as wel...

For the course of 2015 so far I've been running an LG 34UC97 monitor as my workstation display, taking in its glorious 34-inch size and 3440x1440 resolution. Since  my review of the LG 34UC97  back in December 2014, the  We're seeing a new 21:9 display released each month, and we're getting closer to the one that will rule them all: a 34-inch monitor with a native resolution of 3440x1440, but with NVIDIA's G-Sync technology. We should see that released next month, and you can bet your old display we'll have one of those to review very soon. Until then, I've noticed that no sites are really covering UltraWide resolutions in their benchmarks. Well, we are starting today. We will be running all of our future cards in four resolutions: 1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3440x1440 and 3840x2160. But before then, we're going to do a couple of articles to bring you up to speed on various video cards running 3440x1440, and how they perform in our benchmark suites. image: http://...

Priyanka Chopra ’s most anticipated American TV show Quantico is set to go on air next month. Considering the time period, the production team has already begun the publicity of the show.   News sources suggest that for promotions, posters of Quantico featuring Priyanka Chopra are being splashed all across various cities of America, right from New York to Los Angeles. From buses to billboards the team is leaving no stone unturned to spread the word about their new show.   It’s said that the team has set a considerable amount for Priyanka’s publicity in particular. The actress is a known face for NRIs, however it is to be seen how the Americans receive the Indian actress on their TV series.   Created by Joshua Safran, the Priyanka Chopra starrer is a terrorism thriller and has the actress essaying the role of an FBI trainee.  

CHENGDU, China, Aug. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — The ”mostfun Pro”, the world’s first “Intel Inside” desktop 3D printer and the result of a joint collaboration between Chengdu mostfun S&T Co,. Ltd and Intel, will seek crowdfunding on Kickstarter, the world’s leading crowdfunding platform, starting from August 11.  A few backers had a try at some high priced 3D printing technologies on Kickstarter in 2012 and 2013, and these initial efforts were followed by hundreds of thousands of backers who took home low-cost 3D printers via Kickstarter during the following two years. However, the backers were not satisfied with the user experience and their comments on Kickstarter demonstrated that they expected improvements especially in terms of ease of use, stability and after-sale service.  After a comprehensive review of 3D printing projects featuring FDM, SLA and DLP printing technologies, three technologies which successfully completed crowdfunding campai...

Intel's Xeon processors have  powered servers and other enterprise PCs  for years, but if you wanted their performance and security features for on-the-go computing, you were stuck having to buy notebooks by boutique builders  like Eurocom  that stuffed the desktop chips into massive laptops. The chip giant has apparently seen a need in the mobile workstation market for a better solution, as the company has just announced  that it will be delivering Xeon-based notebook processors for the first time this fall. The Xeon Processor E3-1500M v5 family will be based on the  new Skylake 14nm architecture  and will be shipping in high-powered laptops starting this fall. While Intel has powerful CPUs for notebook computing -- like  the Core i7-4940MX Extreme Edition  -- the E3-1500M will offer buyers more enterprise-friendly features to go along with top-tier performance. These include error-correcting code memory, which can fix potential data corrupt...

Late yesterday, Intel  announced  that it would be releasing the first-ever workstation-grade Xeon CPUs for laptops. The company is "not quite ready to unveil all the details" including the exact specifications and TDPs of the chips and when they'll be available, but right now we know that they'll be based on  the same Skylake architecture  as the high-end desktop chips that Intel unveiled earlier this week. The Xeon E3-1500M v5 family also supports the same high-end features as its desktop counterparts, including error-correcting code (ECC) memory and the vPro business management features. Perhaps most interestingly, Intel's press release says that every workstation that ships with one of these Xeons will include  Thunderbolt 3  and, therefore, USB Type-C ports that support the full 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 transfer speed among the connector's other benefits. Thunderbolt 3 is available for consumer Skylake chips, but it requires an external controlle...

  Malissa is a semi-professional cosplayer who dresses as her favourite comic character and attends conventions like the 22nd annual Animethon, which is happening at MacEwan University this weekend. Video by Shaughn Butts, Edmonton Journal. EDMONTON - Comic book characters come to life at the 22nd annual Animethon this weekend. The Japanese Animation or anime themed convention runs August 7-9 at MacEwan University’s City Centre Campus. The longest running anime convention in Canada features more than 80 live programs, panel discussions on a variety of topics, video game tournaments, special guest appearances by voice actors, improvisation groups, and a performance by the popular Japanese rock band Flow. “Edmonton has a very passionate cosplay and anime community that keeps growing with each year,” said Vicky Lau, director of public relations for Animethon. With more than 8,400 people attending last year’s event, organizers hope to see 9,000 guests come through the doors this year. ...

Walker prodded the ball into his own net in the 22nd minute as the Spurs defender tried to deny United captain Wayne Rooney an easy scoring opportunity at a sunlit Old Trafford. It was one of very few chances in a scrappy match, with Spurs’ hopes of an equalizer coming mainly in the closing minutes with two shots from attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen. "It was a very difficult game because you have seen two teams that want to press, so every player at the ball had a very small (amount of) time to play,” Van Gaal told BT Sport. “We didn’t keep the ball too much ... but we created a few chances.” As for his new signings, the Dutchman said: “It’s always difficult, it’s the first time they play at Old Trafford... but I Iiked the performance.” Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino made no secret of his feelings about the game’s turning point after 22 minutes. “Very frustrated, disappointed, because until this moment we played much better, created some chances, we dominated the game,” he...